122 
Thus there can be no doubt, that here we have a new in- 
stance of protection of the young, where the young ones are hatched 
in so curious a place as the stomach of the mother specimen. 
I shall shortly describe the alimentary canal, to show more 
distinctly in what part of the stomach the young are found. 
The structure of the alimentary canal does not differ much 
from that typical of Asterias. There is a very short oesophagus, 
which leads into the stomach itself. This is divided in two parts, 
just as Muller &Troschel State in their “System der Asteriden“ 
(p. 3) to be the rule in those Asterids that have an anal opening. 
The lower part is apparently the more thick-walled — although 
this may partly be due to contractions and folding on preservation. 
The upper part — the so called pyloric sac — is more thin-walled, 
nearly quite smooth, only on the area which lies towards the abact- 
inal surface there are many folds. From this upper part, which 
leads into the rectum with its rectal caeca, the pyloric caeca issue. 
the alimentary canal, which will 
obviously be of great importance 
in this connection, I have hitherto 
not had the opportunity of ex- 
amining on account of the con- 
dition of the material, which was 
not preserved with the object of 
histological studies. 
It should be mentioned, that 
the male does not differ from the 
female as regards the anatom- 
ical structure of the alimentary 
canal. 
The place in which the eggs 
or the young are found is always 
the lower part of the stomach. 
It may be very much distended. 
(Fig. /). 
At times the number of the 
eggs or the young was so great, 
that they protruded through the 
opening between the lower and 
The histological structure of 
f } 
•> r r* 
i" 
Fig. i. A specimen opened from the dorsal 
side. The upper part of the pyloric sac has 
been cut off to show the eggs in the stomach. 
ps. border of the pyloric sac, where it 
has been cut off. pc. pyloric caeca, here 
removed to show the o \aries (ov.) in situ. 
s. stone-canal. 2,5/1. 
